From the Desk of the Executive Director

Ken Phillips is co-founder and Executive Director of Independent Contractors of Australia. He is a published authority on independent contractor issues and directs research on related commercial and trade practices issues. Through his numerous articles in newspapers and think-tank and academic journals, Ken is known for approaching issues from outside normal perspectives and is frequently sought out for media comment.

The announcement by the Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews of the ‘settlement’ to not go ahead with the East West road link has all the signals of a significantly incomplete picture.

There are three major components to the cancellation costs confronting the government. The first is to pay out the construction consortium, East West Connection for the costs they have incurred in starting the project but having it cancelled. Some $339 million has been agreed and allocated to this, the government says. More...

The big superannuation funds are at it again. They're campaigning against the one million Australians who own and control self-managed super funds.

The big funds have done this before, under the Rudd-Gillard Labor governments.

There's about $1.6 trillion of Australians' retirement money in superannuation. The industry (union-controlled) funds have 26 per cent. The retail funds (controlled by banks and AMP) have 20 per cent. Ordinary Australians with SMSFs have 31 per cent, or $500 billion. More...